Sale chief executive Steve Diamond is working on a deal to bring former England head coach Brian Ashton on board with the Sharks in a consultancy role.

Sale chief executive Steve Diamond is working on a deal to bring former England head coach Brian Ashton on board with the Sharks in a consultancy role.

Ashton, a proud Lancastrian who played representative rugby for the Red Rose county, England North and the Barbarians before embarking on an illustrious coaching career, was first linked with a post at Sale shortly after chief executive Diamond returned to the club in his former guise as executive director of sport back in February 2011.

However, on that occasion, Ashton declined the offer and instead opted to work with National Division One side Fylde as their technical director.

During his two-year stint on the Lancashire coast, the club were crowned champions of National Two North and finished fourth in their first season in National One.

But Ashton called time on his successful spell with the third-tier club at the end of last season and is now a free agent, although he works closely with a major sportswear company and also is in heavy demand as a lecturer on high-performance coaching.

“Brian is a mate and we will be speaking with him with a view to trying to see if we can sort something out,” Diamond confirmed.

“Brian doesn’t want to commit himself to anything like a full-time role as he is very busy with his consultancy work and other interests.

“But, hopefully, we can get him involved with us on a consultancy basis.

“Obviously, he’s an outstanding thinker on the game and the idea is that he would come in on a consultancy basis and look at how we do things as a consultant would.

“He also knows and gets on very well with Danny Cipriani and, just as importantly, he also knows and hugely respects Bryan too.”

Ashton has long held an enviable reputation as one of the game’s most innovative attacking coaches and enjoyed huge success in that role at Bath in the 1990s.

After separate spells with Ireland, England A and England, Ashton was eventually elevated to the role as head coach in 2006 and led the national side to the 2007 World Cup final in France, where they were eventually narrowly beaten by South Africa.

However, after guiding England to second place in the 2008 Six Nations, Ashton was moved aside – unfairly in the eyes of most neutral observers – in favour of Martin Johnson.

Crucially, in terms of a possible link-up with the Sharks, he was the man who awarded fly-half Cipriani his first England cap back in 2008 and in the intervening years, the Sharks’ playmaker has made no secret of his admiration for Ashton’s philosophy as well as his working methods.

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